Friday, February 26, 2010

Well for the past few weeks the water has been super low in bellingham, but I can’t just not go kayaking, I have to go. I took my friend out for his first four times, and he is really stoked on it. I love teaching people who are excited about it because they make me realize how awesome of a sport kayaking is. Its so much different than most sports I do, so much more involved, and inspires the passion for adventure that is in all of us. This is why I Love kayaking, in no other sport have I felt like each new day was an adventure, felt like each day could end with me camping next to some river freezing.From the moment Cody sat in my boat, he has been non-stop just plain stoked on kayaking. He walked to my dorm room after the first day, and asked to borrow all my kayak videos. From what I hear from his roomate, he hasnt slept in days and Demshitz the movie has been playing for three weeks now. This guy just loves it. And im stoked to be teaching him because he loves it. I see the same stoke in him that I remember feeling when I started getting into kayaking some 6 years ago. Rock on! Here is a photo from Cody’s First day on the river.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The water has been low here in Bellingham, super low. After not kayaking since my last weekend in Hood Rio, I had to go back. Kurt and I rallied down from Bham to portland on friday night, and with no school on monday thanks to president's day we were stoked to kill it. Three days of paddling in hood river is super fun, some of the most concentrated, quality whitewater that I have ever seen. Saturday morning we had our eyes set on Ldub, but after a series of unfortunate events(gear being dropped off etc.) we settled for a lap on the Truss. I shouldn't say settled, the Truss is pretty under-rated in my book, it has some great quality whitewater(just not quite as good as LDUB). A big crew of my buddies from world class kayak academy were rolling in from Montucky to join us. It was gunna be a sick weekend.

Niko while waiting for gear, and waiting to go yakin.. sometimes dems gotta be patient.We finally got on the river, here are Dan and Niko scouting big brother. Shortly after the stout crew of word class homies rolled up as well.Chillin above big brother.Davis Gove running big brother down the left.Lil Dave Meyers having a clean line on big bro.Me dropping in on Big bro.Nate Garcia at the lip of Big brother.Nate running BZfalls. Nate has a bet with lj to run it untill he swims....... he cleaned it.Niko Peha on big brother, this guy kills it.Erik Boomer and some other crazy rubber pushers styling big brother.Sam Friehofer killin it.Stylin BZ.Stomped!Griff Griffith a fellow CO paddler. This kid kills it.

After a nice run on the Truss, we started an evening of debauchery. The world class crew reunited had a killer night, needless to say lots of brown dancing went down. We awoke the next day not feeling incredible, but we still rallied to go do some kayaking no doubt. We checked out money drop, a nice 50-55ftr with a crazy fast lip. We scouted and decided it looked good to go. The group hiking in.Nate went first having a decent line, but landing a little over the bars and ejecting.The paddle toss.Davis Contemplating the stout.He then ran, and ended up going over the bars as well.

I went, had a nice line folding into the seam, and plugging nice, but my skirt imploded and I ended up swimming. Check out the vid for some more footage.

Erik Johnson had a sweet line, but his skirt blew and he ended up swimming.Sam Friehofer had a super sick line, but a blown skirt again made him swim.A common sight at the bottom. Out of the 8 of us that ran it, 7 swam due to blown skirts and ejections. The other person boofed it.

We went back to portland that night, went to bed early and got a lovely run on the LDub in the morning, then headed back to Bham. Tuesday dawned, and it only made sense to go get some Robe Canyon as I dont have class till 5. The level was 5.8 and it was super fun. After a wednesday of classes, we celebrated western wednesday, and I woke on thursday for my 8am geology class(which is a sick class but 8am is rough). Then I decided it only made sense to go run robe again before the water was completely gone hit it at 4.9 which is pretty low, I recommend more water. It was a good weekend/start to the week, I paddled 5 out of 7 days so I was stoked!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Ever since I first saw the footage of Trip Jennings running Metlako falls, I knew I wanted to run it someday, after 5 years of kayaking, I finally got the chance, and felt like I could stick it. If you want to run a tall waterfall, this has to be the perfect one, its so clean, has a perfect rolling lip and large pool at the bottom. After a sweet day on the Little White, we set our eyes on metlako in the morning. When we arrived, the level seemed really low at the fish hatchery. After a mile and a half or so of hiking through a beautiful canyon with moss covered walls, amazing trees and incredible scenery, we got to the falls. It looked to be on the lower side of good for sure. However after some scouting, we decided it still looked good. We set up media, hiked up, and put on just above the lip. Dan Laham and I sat at the lip while people got media in position. Sitting at the lip of a waterfall like this is pretty cool, the horizon line is huge. The closest thing you can see is the other wall of the canyon, this is when you know you are about to go a long ways down. I watched Dan drop over the lip, silence for a couple seconds, then hoots of a successful run greeted my ears. I lined up, entered the lip, right stroke, soft left rudder, once I felt like I was free falling, I checked my angle to make sure I wasnt boofing or going over the bars, tossed my paddle to the side, tucked up bear-hugging the bottom of my Remix, and waited for the hit. BAM! I got ripped to the back of my boat, it was a big hit for sure, and incredibly resurfaced upright. I was stoked. I couldn't have asked for a better line really. A big thanks to everyone who shot media that day, Ben Hawthorne, Ethan Smith, Niko Peha, and Robbin.

The lip, with not as much water as we hoped. Its really cool how much moss is on the canyon walls here, its a pretty amazing place even if you aren't kayaking, really cool hike with lots of vegetation and interesting geology. Shot by Ethan Smith.Dan Laham having a perfect line in his Jefe, Ben Hawthorne got this cool shot while having an extra paddle to throw to us in the pool.Sick sequence of Dan by Ethan Smith. Dan had a great line holding onto his paddle, and taking it deep. His paddle broke, but it was already cracked so that is to be expected on a drop this tall. Sick Line!Me entering the lip of one of the most perfect waterfalls out there. photo by Ethan Smith.After the paddle toss, tucked up waiting to land, it was a really cool feeling free-falling for that long. Photo by Ethan SmithSick shot coming off the lip. photo by Ben Hawthorne.And about half way down, you can see my paddle next to me right after I tossed itA shot from My GoPro HD that was shooting video from the back of my boat.At the bottom stoked to be down there and to have had such a good line.Gnar Car loaded up for some LDUB.

This wont be my last time down Metlako, cant wait to come back and run it with some Juice!